Minister's jail rape comments at odds with research

Posted
April 19, 2013 19:18:00

Queensland's top lawmaker's claim that rape doesn't occur in the state's prisons has been shown to be at odds with expert research and reports made to his own department. Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says there are adequate staff to prevent rape in prison. He made the comments while defending Queensland's policy of putting 17-year-olds into adult prisons.

TIM PALMER: Queensland's top lawmaker's claim that rape doesn't occur in the state's prisons have been shown to be at odds with expert research and reports made to his own department.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says there are adequate staff to prevent rape in prison. He made the comments while defending Queensland's policy of putting 17-year-olds into adult prisons.

But a report co-authored by several academics as well as government staff found more than 100 Queensland prisoners reported being sexually assaulted in prison. And the Queensland Corrective Services Department has confirmed 15 reports of sexual assault over the past year.

Annie Guest reports from Brisbane.

ANNIE GUEST: Queensland's Attorney-General and Justice Minister Jarrod Bleijie made these comments yesterday on ABC Coast FM when asked about rape in jail.

JARROD BLEIJIE: Jail's not nice place but I reject your assertion that you just made that rape happens in jail. We have certain protections and I was, at some stage, shadow corrections minister in opposition so I did actually visit all our jails.

Jails are not nice places. They're not meant to be nice places but there is adequate staff to ensure those sorts of things aren't happening and prisoners have their own cells and so forth.

ANNIE GUEST: The comments have drawn a backlash from prisoner advocates, workers and unionists, who've variously described Mr Bleijie as kidding himself, hiding under a rock and being ill-informed.

He's also at odds with reports made to his own Department of Corrective Services. It says 15 reports of sexual assault were made over the past year. Five of them were withdrawn. In 2010, 30 reports were made.

Researchers who published papers in 2011 also reject the Justice Minister's assertions that rape doesn't happen in Queensland jails.

Professor Basil Donovan is a physician and head of the Sexual Health Program at the University of New South Wales' Kirby Institute.

BASIL DONOVAN: We selected random samples of prisoners. In Queensland there was 900 male prisoners and 134 female prisoners in our sample.

ANNIE GUEST: And what were your major findings regarding sexual assaults and unwanted sexual activity amongst those prisoners you interviewed?

BASIL DONOVAN: In the case of male prisoners in Queensland about 2.9 per cent reported that they'd been assaulted some time in prison and about 3.8 per cent of women.

ANNIE GUEST: And that was from a prison population of how many people?

BASIL DONOVAN: Well if we multiplied it out over the whole prison population that would represent probably about 120 men in Queensland prisons who had been forced into unwanted sexual activity and probably about 12 to 15 women in their prison system that had been forced into unwanted sexual activity.

ANNIE GUEST: Professor Donovan co-authored the study with eight other researchers, including government employees from Queensland and New South Wales. Papers were published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and HIV Australia.

The impetus for the study was to compare sexual activity, condom use and policies in Queensland and New South Wales.

Professor Donovan says there were similar rates of sex and sexual assault in both states, yet unlike New South Wales, Queensland doesn't give condoms to prisoners.

Queensland also differs on its prison policy regarding children. It's the only state or territory with an ongoing policy to house 17-year-olds in adult prisons.

There, they are more vulnerable to sexual assault, according to a former prison guard who doesn't want to be identified.

FORMER PRISON GUARD: There is never enough guards. There is normally two guards to 24 and 48 prisoners. The prison officers can't keep an eye on all 48 so what happens in jail is young offenders try and make friends and they are bashed, some are gang raped, some are stabbed.

ANNIE GUEST: The new National Children's Commissioner and others have called for Queensland to reverse its policy and place 17-year-olds in juvenile prisons.

But the Attorney-General and Justice Minister Jarrod Bleijie is standing firm.